OSRAM to stop making PMOLEDs, and focus on AMOLED lighting solutions

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors will be exiting the production of passive matrix displays based on organic LEDs (OLEDs) at the end of the year. The company will be concentrating its OLED activities on developing market-ready OLED lighting solutions. As a result, the display manufacturing line in Penang, Malaysia, will cease production at the end of the year. The 270 employees there will be transferred to other activities within OSRAM Opto Semiconductors including the new LED chip production facility in Penang. Jobs are being sought in other parts of the company for the OLED product team in the USA. No employees in Germany are affected. OSRAM Opto Semiconductors will honor the existing obligations toward its customers.

Since the end of 2003, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has been manufacturing and marketing passive matrix displays based on OLEDs under the brand name of PictivaTM. Worldwide demand for the displays, which are used predominantly in communication systems, industrial applications and mobile consumer electronics, has lagged far behind the company`s expectations. Against this background, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has decided to withdraw from the display business and concentrate exclusively on the core business of lighting.